Grab owes customers P1.8 billion – lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) was urged yesterday to look into the fees that transport network service provider Grab is charging thousands of riders.

In making the appeal, Rep. Jericho Nograles of party-list group Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta accused Grab of illegally charging P2 per minute of travel, aside from legal fees approved by the LTFRB.

He said a response from Grab to his query showed that last Jan. 22, his total fare of P404.98 for his trip from Makati to the House of Representatives in Quezon City included P118 for the 59-minute travel time, or P2 per minute.

“Grab charges P2 per minute illegally. They’re not allowed to charge that. The LTFRB has not allowed them to charge a per-minute fee,” he added.

Nograles pointed out that Grab should collect only the flag down rate of P40 and the additional P10 to P14 per kilometer of distance traveled.

“Obviously, Grab doesn’t want us to know that we are being charged extra and that is against the law. That is against the provisions of our existing consumer laws particularly Republic Act 7394 or the Consumer Act of the Philippines,” Nograles pointed out.

“Providers of goods and services are required by law not just to issue official receipts but also a detailed breakdown of what were paid for.”

Nograles urged the LTFRB to direct Grab to return to their riders the P2 it has collected for the past five months. He estimated total collections to be about P1.8 billion. – Delon Porcalla, Emmanuel Tupas